On the 12 Days of Christmas
by kohakublah
Summary: It wasn't ordinary for the Tooth Fairy to be in such a rage. Normally she was a very happy and spastic person with a confident smile. Now her demeanor was some mixture between a boiling pull to take action, and utter defeat and helplessness. Though, who could blame her? Christmas was 13 days away and… North had been kidnapped… …by the Grinch.
1. Prologue

"Oh this is just great! That bull-headed twit has gotten us all in trouble now!" Bunnymund yelled.

"Don't you dare call North a 'twit'! Especially in this situation! IT'S NOT THE TIME, OR THE PLACE-" Tooth was cut off by Bunny's apology.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I'm just very stressed out by all this. I don't know how this could have happened," said Bunny, waving down Toothiana's anger with his paws. It wasn't ordinary for the Tooth Fairy to be in such a rage. Normally she was a very happy and spastic person with a confident smile. Now her demeanor was some mixture between a boiling pull to take action, and utter defeat and helplessness. Though, who could blame her? Christmas was 13 days away and…

…North had been kidnapped…

…by the Grinch.

Jack jogged in the room where everyone was gathered in North's home at the snowy Pole. "She agreed, she's coming over right now," he said breathing heavily, "Oh, when did you get here, Tooth?"

Tooth looked over at Jack, puzzled. "I-I just got here. And who's coming?" she turned to the other Guardians and then back at Jack.

"We have a plan. And we need the help of a witch to catch that Grinch. Y'see?" Bunny answered.

Tooth cocked and eyebrow and her mouth gaped open a bit, she was lost for words. "Wh-…What's the plan?"

* * *

"So you're telling me that one of us is going to temporarily become a human in the town that we've found to be where the Grinch – who has somehow disguised himself as a human in order to commit some evil master-mind plan – is in order to free North and stop the Grinch from the inside?" said Tooth as she watched the good witch mix and stir potions into a cauldron.

"Yeah, basically," Bunny nodded with his arms crossed, also staring at the witch at work.

Tooth slapped her palm against her face and her hand slid down lazily, then dropped to her side, "This is what I get for coming late to meetings!"

Jack leaned against his staff and looked at his fellow guardians, "So… Who's going to become human? Who's gonna do the job?"

Just as Bunnymund was about to speak, Tooth cut him off with an enthusiastic declaration, "Me. I'm doing this. I don't expect you to understand, but I feel like I _have _to."

Jack and Bunny stumbled with their words trying to explain – without offending her and causing her to pummel them in her bad mood – why her going was a bad idea. Though, it was mostly because she was a woman and they couldn't help but feel that _they_ should go instead.

"Oh shut your traps and let the fairy queen go! It's just rude! She's fully capable and personally I think she'd do a better job than any of you numskulls " shouted the witch, and she ladled her concoction into a tall glass bottle and popped a cork in the opening. Sandy nodded and gave thumbs up in agreement. Tooth put on a determined pout as she crossed her arms over her puffed-out chest, "So it's settled, then."


	2. Can You See Me Now?

In a poorly lit bathroom in a closed-down movie and game store, Tooth was leaning against the wall staring down at the potion in her hand. She tapped with her foot at the box of clothes she was to put on after she drank the mixture.

"Tooth? You okay in there?" inquired Jack from outside of the bathroom, trying to hide his worry. Twinkling noises signaled that Sandy had responded to Jack's comment, probably attempting to ease his nerves.

"I'm fine," Tooth sighed, "bottoms up." With that she took one large swig of the potion and quickly set it down. She held her stomach and groaned – _what an awful taste_. But as a minute passed – a minute that felt like an hour to Tooth – she found that the flavor had changed to sweet gingerbread.

Her stomach growled and her eyes fluttered. She felt as though her skin was rising off of her bones, then she doubled over onto the floor. Strangely, the last thing she said before losing all consciousness was "Jack."

Soon enough, he answered back.

"Tooth? Toothiana?! Answer me!" There was a pause. "I don't want to wait, Sandy! What if something went wrong? Tooth, I'm coming in."

"No, don't. I'm fine," Tooth said, forcing herself to wake up. "It's okay Jack, you don't need to come in." This time, Jack didn't reply. Tooth shrugged it off and rubbed her eyes. She jumped as she didn't feel any feathers on her hand. She stretched out her bare arm and twisted it every which way, examining it. She gasped in astonishment as she looked down at the rest of her. She was… human. Standing up, she dusted herself off and got dressed. She wore a black, short-sleeved turtleneck with a tan skirt. She also had on teal pantyhose and black ankle boots. To top it all off she had a tan, faux leather coat to protect her from the cold. _"The boys sure like playing dress up, don't they?" _she thought to herself with a smirk.

Cautiously she inched her way to the cloudy bathroom mirror to peek at her reflection. She smiled as she thought that her short, dark brown hair was pretty. Other than that her face was basically the same. That was comforting.

Toothiana tugged at the door to no avail. "Jack, can you help me open the door. I think it's stuck." Just as she said that, the door was opened for her, but there was no one on the other side. She walked out of the door and looked around, "Jack? Jack, are you there? Sandy? This isn't funny! Where are you guys?" Tooth walked out into the alley way just outside. It was a cold, grey day in this city. There was a ton of snow on the ground; Tooth began to wonder if Jack hadn't gone to play around and Sandy had gone to retrieve him.

She leaned against the alley's wall and groaned. Where were they? The worried Guardian heard a freezing noise by her feet. It was definitely Jack. He was writing a message in frost on the ground next to her. Why didn't he just talk to her? Her eyes narrowed as she read his message:

_Can you see me?_

Toothiana looked all around her, flustered and confused. "No, Jack. Where are you?"

"Excuse me, Ma'am!" called a stern male voice. Tooth looked over to see a chubby policeman with a bushy mustache and thick eyebrows walking toward her.

"Y-yes?" she stuttered nervously.

"Sure is a pretty weird: young woman like you alone in an alleyway. Can you understand why this is very suspicious, Miss?" He said resting his fat hands on his hips.

Tooth placed her foot over the icy words on the ground next to her and brushed her hair behind her ear and nodded at the officer. The officer observed her closely and his eyes fell on the box she was carrying. "What's in the box?" he inquired.

"Uh… a very bad tasting drink," she responded with a sheepish smile as she pulled out the remainder of the potion from the box.

"May I ask what this 'bad tasting drink' is for?" he said narrowing his eyes at her.

"Drinking," she teased, "but as I've already said – it's not very good."

"Listen here, Missy, this here looks very suspicious and I want answers not-" he stopped abruptly as the wall behind Tooth began to freeze. Strange phrases began to appear:

_Leave. Run away. You'll never make it out alive at this rate. Go._

And other such menacing phrases were scrawled upon the wall. The officer became short of breath and stepped back a ways. Toothiana, though, had caught onto to Jack's plan. "Are… Are _you _writing that? What are you? Some kind of witch – a monster? Stay away from me," Tooth faked her fear and darted out of the alley way and down the street.

She came to an empty park and sat down on a swing to catch her breath, then removed the potion from the large box. "Jack, are you here?"

He wrote in the snow, "Yes."

Tooth shook her head, annoyed. "No, no, no. I can't see you guys! Is… is it because I'm an adult?"

Jack wrote in the snow once again, "I'm technically only 18. That counts as a kid still, right? Looks like you'll need my help." The gross-tasting potion was snatched from Tooth's hands,

"Jack what are you-"

Suddenly, a pile of messy brown hair became visible, and then a face with big brown eyes. It was Jack – human Jack. Once he was totally observable, he collapsed onto the snowy ground. The frost designs on his Jacket faded, and the magic that once danced around his staff dissipated. Tooth jumped off the swings and scurried to the ground next to Jack and sat him up against her. She brushed the snow off of his hair and face; she put her hand over his chest and was comforted by the feeling of his beating heart. "Jack," she said over and over as she tried to shake him awake.

"Tooth?" he responded in a meek voice as he reached up to her face. The fact that she no longer fazed through him made him smile widely up at her.

"Um… Jack," she blushed as she glanced at his hand caressing her cheek.

"Oh… OH, OH! Sorry!" Jack laughed as he hurried to his feet and dusted himself off. Tooth stood up as well and pushed her hair behind her ear again.

"S-so, can you see Sandy?" she asked trying to melt the awkwardness of the situation.

"Oh, oh yeah I can," he said gesturing to the seemingly empty spot right next to him.

"I guess we're in this together, Jack," Tooth smiled as she held her hand out for Jack to shake. He took her hand with enthusiasm and pulled her in for a hug.

"Let's do this!" he cheered.

"What a spaz," Tooth thought to herself.

"Come on, Bunny will be waiting for us at the apartment," Jack said picking up his staff and walking away.

"Wait… Waiting for _us?" _Tooth asked. Jack turned to look back at her,

"He figured something like this might happen. Though, mostly because he knew how much I wanted to help save Christmas," he put his staff behind his neck and rested his arms on it, "It's one of my favorite Holidays, after all." Tooth shook her head and caught up to Jack.

"I hope we're going the right way," she teased, hitting him lightly with her elbow, "and you're not getting me lost."

"Don't worry Ma'am," he said mocking the police officer from before, "There's no suspicious activity here."

* * *

"Doesn't the cold bother you at all, now that you're human?" Tooth asked him as they walked up to the apartment building. It was a tall, sturdy-looking building. It looked almost fancy, and the tall glass doors where outlined with a reflective, yellow-colored metal. Jack opened the door for Tooth and stepped back, "Hmm… No. The cold has never bothered me for as long as I can remember," Jack answered her. Tooth pointed a finger in his face as she was walking in, "Well, while we're here, you _are _going to be wearing shoes whether you like it or not." Jack pouted childishly at her.

"Yes mother," he said in stupid voice. Tooth glared at him as he walked in and once again hit him with her elbow when he was next to her. They both laughed. Jack picked up two suitcases and pulled out a key and handed it to Tooth. "Thanks Bunny," he said. Then, he stopped at listened, "Tomorrow morning, then? Okay. Yeah, yeah. We'll be up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as early as _humanly _possible," he joked as he headed up the stairs. Tooth smiled and dropped the box she had been carrying by a recycle bin in the building. She looked around herself, "Um… seen you soon, Bunny. If you're there" She hurried after Jack. Tooth unlocked their room and held the door open for Jack. Just as he set the suitcases down he made a mad dash for a bed and threw himself down on it. "Mine," he sang, huddling up to a pillow.

Tooth noticed they had a fire place and – _wow – _they even had wood to start a fire with. So she did. While Jack easily fell straight to sleep, Tooth couldn't. This wasn't a vacation, this was a mission. North was a friend, and she couldn't help but worry every passing second about him. She prodded at the fire with a fire iron and leaned back against the couch placed in front of the fireplace. She jumped when she felt Jack plop down on the couch by her. He leaned over rested his chin on his fists and his elbows on his knees. After taking a moment to let out a big yawn he placed one hand on Tooth's shoulder, "Don't worry. We can do this," Jack said as he smiled at her. Tooth nodded and continued to stare into the fire.

"But… where do we even start?" she sighed.

"Where better to find out where a Christmas killjoy is hiding than from kids? And where better to find kids than…"

"A play ground?"

"Or a school. You know there's an elementary school around here that's still in session, even though Christmas is so close. I wonder who set that up."

"The Grinch?"

"Tooth, you are just _too _smart! I'm glad we're partners. You're such a genius!" Jack joked. Tooth once again hit him with her elbow. She laughed and shook her head as she prodded one last time at the fire. Jack leaned back onto the couch and watched her. He couldn't help but noticed how pretty Toothiana looked with the light from the fire making her hair shine, and her skin seem to glow. The reflection of the fire in big, glass-like, fuchsia eyes only made them all the warmer than they naturally looked. He felt his face get hot and he looked away. He coughed awkwardly as he stood up and nudged Tooth with his foot, "You should… Um… probably get some rest," he said before retiring once again to his own bed.

"Mhm," she replied, "Goodnight Jack."

"Goodnight."


	3. Elementary, My Dear Toothiana

Tooth awoke with a jolt. She sat up in a hurry and looked frantically around her. "Oh, okay. I remember now," she sighed. The past day had felt almost like a well thought up dream, courtesy of The Sandman. Yet, here she was: a human on a mission to save Christmas, and her dear friend Nicholas St. North. She glanced at Jack's bed only to see that he was laying half way off of his bed, snoring, with his bed sheets tousled every which way. She had to bury her face in her pillow to stop herself from laughing hysterically at him and waking up everyone in a five mile radius.

After she had finished getting ready, she decided it was time to wake Jack up. Tooth glanced at the clock and saw that it was still early. Six o'clock in the morning to be exact. She kneeled beside him and saw that his face was smooshed against the ground and he was drooling onto his pillow that he had dragged off the bed with him. Not knowing how exactly to wake him up, Tooth decided just to poke at him. First she poked at his shoulder, then at his side, and at his back, too. His response was a mere yawn.

Tooth sat down by him, "Well, if he's not going to wake up," she thought to herself, "maybe I can get a good look at his teeth." She grinned happily as she pried his mouth open and examined his teeth. They were still as white as always, except they had gotten a bit dirty overnight. She was definitely going to make sure he brushes when he wakes up. Unfortunately, her teeth ogling came to abrupt end when her finger slipped and she poked Jack's tongue. He was wide awake now, and probably _very _concerned as to why her hands were in his mouth. "You… um… need to get up now. Don't forget to brush and floss!" she smiled sheepishly at him, hoping not to get scolded or have Jack shy away from her for the rest of the day as punishment for her creepiness. He shooed her hands away and turned his pillow over, rested his head, and closed his eyes once again. "Jack?" Tooth said, confused as to why he was going back to sleep.

"Too early," he said groggily.

"You said we'd be up early to Bunny," Tooth reminded him.

"I said we'd be up as early as humanly possible," Jack growled, shutting his eyes tighter, "Six o'clock in the morning is not HUMAN."

"But," Tooth pouted at Jack, "Oh, never mind." She had a feeling she wasn't going to win this argument. She got up and sat down on the couch. Maybe some extra sleep wouldn't hurt her, either. She probably needed it, too, considering how quickly she fell back to sleep.

"I'm brushing, are you happy now? Geez," teased Jack to Tooth who was still sleeping on the couch. He let the toothbrush dangle from his mouth as he messed with his wet hair in the mirror on the closet door. He never realized how nice showers could actually be, although the sudden burst of scolding water from Tooth having the shower temperature set to hot was rather unpleasant at first. When he finally figured out how to change the temperature of the shower for himself, it was rather welcoming.

The sound of Jack walking about the apartment slowly awoke Tooth from her nap. She opened her eyes slightly to see where he was. After realizing that what she was peeking at from her tired eyes was Jack wearing only a towel making silly faces at himself in the closet mirror, she quickly squeezed her eyes shut and pretended she was asleep again.

"Tooth," she heard Jack call to her a few minutes of awkward listening later, "Wake up, Sleepy." Tooth rubbed her eyes and yawned as she sat up, and then cautiously glanced toward Jack. She never thought she'd see the day Jack would wear a pair of blue jeans and converse. Wait. Converse?

"_The_ Jack Frost," she said in astonishment, "is wearing shoes?" She smiled and clapped her hands together happily.

"Yeah, yeah. Enjoy it while you can." He looked slightly embarrassed, "I'm only doing it to blend in."

"But of course," Tooth replied while fixing her hair with her fingers. She stood up and adjusted herself. "Are we ready?" Jack nodded and tossed the key for the apartment to her, and she stowed it away in her pocket.

"Next stop: Mission Elementary School!" Jack said in a goofy voice as he opened the door for Tooth and him.

* * *

Jack made no attempt to hide his displeasure in the fact that the snow that had covered the ground just yesterday was now completely gone. He trudged along with his hands in his pockets, moping childishly as if it would bring his beloved snow back. "So, do you even know where we're going?" Tooth said, breaking the silence between them.

"Of course I do," Jack said tracing his finger around the air as if trying to pin point the location on an invisible map.

"You don't, do you? Are we lost?"

"No, we're not lost. I know where to go." Jack jogged forward smiling widely, pleased with himself.

"Here we go," Tooth sighed before she proceeded to chase after him.

They stopped at the fence that surrounded the elementary school. Well, well. Jack had got them there in one piece. Surprisingly, though they were out for recess, the children looked dreadfully bored.

"Why do-," Tooth started to speak to Jack, but he had went ahead of her. He was throwing himself over the fence into the school grounds. Tooth bit her lip worriedly and looked around to see if anyone had seen him, but all of the teachers seemed too busy gossiping amongst themselves and not caring to watch the children. Looking off to the right of her, Tooth noticed a door in the fence. It seemed like a better choice than hopping the fence like Jack.

Jack plopped himself down into the large sandbox next to two boys. They were lazily running their fingers through the sand, bored out of their minds. Jack coming to sit with them was probably the most interesting thing that had happened to them all day, for they jumped and stared intently toward the strange boy that had popped their personal-space bubble.

"So, are you just gonna sit here all recess?" Jack said with a sly grin crossing his face.

"There's nothing to do," said one of the boys.

"Yeah, in this school, even recess is boring," the other boy added.

"Bah! Nonsense," Jack said, tossing a bit of sand onto the shirt of Caucasian, brunette boy, prompting his African-American friend next to him to snort in an attempt not to laugh.

"Hey!" he shouted, glaring between Jack and his friend. Jacks lop-sided smile and mischievous giggle were too contagious – the boy scooped up a handful of sand and tossed it right for Jack's face. Luckily, Jack moved a bit and it hit his shoulder.

"You're it, Jack!" called Tooth, kicking of her shoes so she could run faster.

"I guess so," Jack smiled devilishly at the boys. Catching on, they both hurried to their feet and bolted away, laughing. Soon enough, most of the kids at recess were either watching or joining their game of tag. The children were in an uproar of laughter. Even though he was a human at the moment, Jack was still the guardian of fun, and he did a damn good job.

Being the tiny lady she was, Tooth hid herself under the colorful, metal jungle gym. She threw her arms out and grabbed Jack's ankles as he ran by and tripped him – letting the bubbly children he was chasing escape him. She laughed and attempted to make a quick escape, but Jack wasn't just going to let her get away with tripping him. He lunged for her and tackled her to the ground, avoiding hurting her. "You're it now! No tag backs!" he laughed as he got up from the ground and ran away.

"No fair!" Tooth laughed. The brunette boy's friend ran up to her and held out his hand,

"Tag me!" he shouted as he smiled eagerly. Tooth giggled and patted his hand.

"You're it! No tag backs."

The boy darted off after his friend and Jack, laughing obnoxiously. Tooth grinned and dusted herself off. "Ah! No! You got me!" she heard Jack shout on the other side of the playground. She looked over and saw the young boy had tackled Jack down with his friend. All three of the boys were so wrapped up in the fun that they hadn't noticed that each of them had quite a few cuts and scrapes on them. The bell for class rang loudly, and a harmonious "Aw!" from all of the kids sounded in reply. Tooth ran over to Jack and helped each of them up.

Tooth gasped, "All of you are bleeding!" The dark red substance had bled from Jack's knee through his pants – _that was going to be an annoying stain._ The brown-haired boy at a nasty scrape across his elbow – _that was going to be a daunting scab. _His friend had a few friction burns and cuts on his hands from twirling himself around the bars of the jungle gym to avoid being tagged or make himself go faster. "You three need to see the school nurse."

"Aw man!" the three of them said in unison.

"EXCUSE ME," a loud, bitter-sounding voice shouted toward them. Tooth quickly turned around to see an angry-looking, thin, elderly woman marching toward them. Her hair was pulled back into a ridiculously tight gray bun, as if it was some attempt to pull away her wrinkles. Her eyes were a dark, bland color, yet they pierced right through you. "What do you hooligans think you're doing trespassing on our school grounds?"

In an attempt to dodge having a conversation with evil-looking woman Tooth switched the topic around, "These boys need to go see the school nurse, or their cuts could get infected." Also scared of the teacher, the boys nodded their heads furiously, but kept their mouths shut.

"WELL-," the old woman started to shout, but a smoother, more content voice interrupted.

"It embarrasses me to say this, but our old school nurse has left us. We no longer have one," said a tall, handsome man. His eyes were dark and mysterious. His hair was slicked back in a professional manner, and he was wearing a suit. Tooth couldn't help but blush a bit – he was a good looking man.

"This is new," Jack thought to himself. He couldn't put a name to what he was feeling, but when he saw the way Tooth looked at that man it felt like pins and needles were piercing his heart and lungs. He almost spoke up to say something snarky, but Tooth replied to the man faster.

"That's fine. As long as everything is still in the nurse's office I can clean 'em up myself," she smiled cutely up at the man. He smirked and replied,

"Be my guest."

Tooth cleaned the two boys up first. Kent, who was the brown-haired boy, thanked her and ran off to class. Davey, Kent's friend that has taken quite a liking to Jack and Tooth asked if they would come back to the class after their done. Jack spoke for both of them and smiled widely, "Of course!" Then Davey, too, hurried back to class.

"Okay, pull down your pants," Tooth said while washing her hands. She didn't even stop to think about how awkward that was.

"Wh…what," Jack stuttered. His eyes widened at her remark. Tooth quickly turned off the water and whipped around to face him with a terrified look across her face in realization of what she had said.

"Oh my gosh! I didn't mean it that way. I just need to be able to get to the cut. I...I…Um…" Tooth's face was ridiculously red and she couldn't even bring herself to stare directly at him. Jack nervously cleared his throat.

"Oh. No. I just didn't hear you, is all. It's cool." He was lying through his teeth. He had a knot in his throat that would just _not _go away he was so uneasy. As embarrassing as it was, Tooth hurried and it was over quickly. The most painful part was probably watching Tooth fight back a laugh at his bright-pink, festive boxers. Bunny brought them their clothes, so Jack kind of figured something like this would happen. He just didn't think someone would have to see.

Let's just say the walk back to the kid's classroom was rather tense, and leave it at that. Things weren't much better when they walked in, either. The entire class was sitting restlessly, whining at the old woman who was attempting to read them a story.

"Would you quiet down, class!" she snapped angrily, "I am trying to read to you!"

"We've already heard this story a dozen times!" Kent groaned.

The teacher looked toward Jack and Tooth with a menacing scowl, "This is your fault you know! You've made the class fidgety, and now they won't even listen to a simple story."

"Story?" Jack piped up, "I know some pretty cool stories." The entire class grinned and begged him to tell them. "May I?" Jack asked the woman with an innocent smile that was just as childish as the kids sitting on the carpet in anticipation. She scoffed and tossed the book away before retreating to her desk to scowl at him while he enlightened the class.

"How many of you believe in the Sandman?" Jack started, "Raise your hand! Up! Up!" Everyone had their hands raised. "What about Santa Claus? Only put your hand down if you don't believe they're real." The children only raised their hands higher. "And the Easter Kang- I mean Bunny. The Easter Bunny, anyone?" All of the hands remained raised. Jack smiled up at Tooth and then looked back toward the kids, "What about the fabulous Tooth Fairy?" One hand started to go down and Jack glared at them, "Hey, why's the hand goin' down, Kiddo?"

"I don't know. I'm just not sure if she's real anymore because one time, instead of a quarter for my tooth, I got a Christmas tree with a bunch of presents," the child shook their head, "It was weird."

"Well now, that wasn't the Tooth Fairy's fault! That was just Santa being strange, okay?" Jack said reassuringly.

"Oh. Okay," the kid smiled as he raised his hand up again.

Tooth couldn't help but feel all warm and bubbly inside after that. That was really… _really… _nice of Jack. She couldn't fight the smile crossing her face.

"Okay, so what about THE BOOGEYMAN!" Jack bellowed out in a creepy voice. The hands of a few kids who wanted to put up a brave façade went down. Jack and Tooth chortled bit. "Alright, last one. Who here believes in Jack Frost?" Everyone's hand went down at the name.

"Who's he?" a few of the kids asked. Tooth walked over and sat next to Jack.

"You guys don't know what you're missing out on! Jack Frost is hands down the most fun of all of them," she smiled at Jack. He didn't look shot down by no one raising their hand for him; in fact he probably expected it. He was new to the Guardians, and new to being believed in.

"Well then, I guess I better start with the story of Jack Frost, then!" Jack said cheerfully. The kids bubbled eagerly to hear the story of this 'Jack Frost'.

Tooth was surprised at how well Jack could spin a tale, though she shouldn't have been. Of all people, it only made sense that Jack would have had the most practice storytelling – and plenty to tell of. She listened as he carefully kept all of the children enticed, while still censoring and changing bits of the story so it would seem happier. The story of Jack Frost was not a particularly cheerful one. "I suppose it depends on who you ask," Tooth thought to herself.

"And now he's the closest of friends with the Tooth Fairy, Santa, Easter Bunny, and the Sandman!" A grave look crossed Jack's face and the children leaned forward in anticipation, "But one of his friends is in trouble, and he thinks it might be the Grinch's fault," he whispered to them. The kids looked at each other knowingly, with a hint of fear in them. "So if any of you are brave enough to help me out, you could tell me where and who the Grinch is so I can tell Jack Frost and he can save his friend!"

"I don't know," Kent started, shyly, "Maybe."

"That's dangerous business Jay," said Davey.

"Jay?" Tooth laughed to herself. They had given him a nickname. That's so cute. Jack nudged her playfully in response to her giggles.

"Okay children, it's time to pack up and get ready to go home," said the teacher sourly. The children dispersed, and the suave man from before approached Jack and Tooth.

"I hope I'm not imposing, but may I ask you two for a favor?" his words rolled off of his tongue smoothly. Tooth was swooning again, and most likely pondering what his teeth looked like. The pins and needles were also back for Jack. _Great._

"Of course, ask away." Tooth said it so sweetly to the man that Jack actually became nauseous.

"It would mean a lot to us if you would take the position of school nurse until school is out," he turned to Jack, "and it would be great if you could continue coming to tell stories to the children." His laugh was deep in mature, "Even Ms. Englebert was getting into it."

"I'm sorry, but I don't have any medical credentials, I couldn't possibly…" Tooth started.

"It's quite alright. I think you'd make a fine school nurse, and it's better than just not having one at all."

A few of the kids clung to Tooth's clothing and looked up at her with big eyes, "Oh please, oh please become the school nurse!" and "Yes! That would be so cool!" they pleaded to her. Perhaps it was the guardian in her that disallowed her to turn them down, or maybe it was just in her nature.

"Alright, I'll do it," she smiled and giggled as the kids cheered and hugged her.

"And you, Mr. 'Jay'?" the man turned to Jack.

It took all of Jack's willpower to answer him nicely and not openly express his annoyance with him, "Of course, I'd love to," he managed to say. The students high-fived and roared with glee when they heard Jack had decided to continue coming.

"Great!" he said, turning away from Jack and facing Tooth once again, "You can call me Mr. Alaster, or address me by the first name, Oscar, if you like. I never caught your name, though."

"Oh! You can call me Tooth," she tilted her head shyly at the elegant way he was holding her hand.

"It's lovely to meet you. We'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yes! Definitely!" she chimed. The moment he stepped out of the door, Jack proceeded to make gagging noises blatantly directed toward "Mr. Alaster".

"What?" Tooth narrowed her eyes at Jack.

"That guy is a total stick in the mud! We are not gonna mix well with him, are we Tooth?" he said confidently.

"I don't know," Tooth smiled softly, "he seems nice."

"I'm sorry… WHAT?" Jack shouted confused.

"He seems nice, Jack." Tooth rolled her eyes at him and walked outside.

"This is going to be a long week," he whined.

"Yo Jay," Davey called to him. He walked over and huddled in the corner with them, curious as to what they had to say. "Listen, we can't just talk about the Grinch here."

"Yeah man, he's real!" Kent said worriedly.

"No duh," Jack said, still in a bad mood due to his stomach feeling as if it had risen to his throat.

"If you wanna know more about him, it's gonna cost you." Davey beamed devilishly. Jack was unfazed.

"I don't have any money, if that's what you want," Jack yawned.

Davey furrowed his brow. "Nah, Man! You've just gotta complete every dare we throw at you for the next few days," said Kent, pleased with himself.

"Yeah, and for every dare you complete we'll tell you something new about the Grinch."

Jack stared at the two boys, obviously proud of themselves for coming up with this. "Hm," Jack thought for a moment, "I'm totally in."

The three of them said their goodbyes, and Jack walked outside to meet Tooth. She seemed deep in thought and he almost didn't want to disturb her, but after he had been standing near her for a moment she noticed him and gestured to the fence for them to leave. Like before, Tooth walked through the door in the fence, yet Jack still wanted to climb up it and jump down.

"What are you two doing?!" Bunny popped out of nowhere and scolded Jack. "You're supposed to be finding the Grinch's hide out, not goofing off!"

"We are finding the Grinch's hide out, Bunny. I'm sorry if the idea of having fun irritates you that much," Jack hissed sarcastically at him. He was still a bit sour from Mr. Alaster's presence, and also discomforted by the way Tooth rolled her eyes at him after she admitted that she thought that creep seemed 'nice.' He never expected being human to be this hard. It was like every emotion and feeling was amplified tenfold. Maybe it was because he was alive and vulnerable. He was _real _and exposed to everything first hand. It also didn't help that he was so inexperienced with his feelings, having spent 300 years alone.

"Jack, this isn't some joke! This is serious. North is on the line, here!" Bunnymund shouted sternly. Tooth did not know what Bunnymund had said, but she could see Jack was about to shout something in response, and that would mean an entire argument would ensue and it would _not _be pretty. She threw her arms out in front of Jack to stop him.

"Calm down, guys. We're really trying to help North _and _Christmas here." Tooth saw Jack fighting back his irritation. His expression was uneasy and he was avoiding eye contact with everything except the ground. "I think it would be best if he… _we _got some rest now."

Bunny must have spoken a little more to Jack, because Jack began to respond in simple few-syllable sentences. Then he nodded and let out a relieved sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "He left," Jack said weakly, "Can we go back to the apartment now?" His gaze was still stuck on the ground.

Tooth smiled warmly at him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sure," she said comfortingly. He just nodded and began walking home. She didn't bother asking him what exactly was bothering him. Being alive and mortal can be draining. She understood that this must be a trying experience for him, and she figured prying wouldn't be the most tactful way to lighten his mood.

They took their time getting home and both of them dropped down onto the couch as soon as they entered the apartment. "Sorry you feel bad, Jack." Tooth yawned as they both leaned deeper into the couch. Tooth looked even more exhausted than Jack.

"What? Me? Feeling bad?" Jack yawned as well, "Nonsense." Tooth giggled and hit him lightly with her elbow. He smiled and rested his eyes. A few moments later, he felt Tooth's face press against his shoulder. She had fallen asleep on him. Luckily, Tooth dozing off on Jack's shoulder was enough to cure his uneasy stomach and the pins and needles he felt, and Jack, too, was able to fall asleep.

**...Did some editing. Tell me if you find any daunting grammatical errors. Thanks for the support!**


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